Afghanistan

Reading all the moving stories this morning of how twenty-two-year-old Private Robert Costall became the first Canadian solider to die in Afghanistan during active combat, I recalled this recent documentary (RMP) by CBC’s Carol Off. It is totally worth 12 minutes of your time. From the narration:

Some reports say that as many as half of the Afghan parliament is made up of people suspected of war crimes.

The supposed former warlords in Afghanistan’s parliament allegedly repress women, threaten the people and profit from the opium trade. Here’s a Reuters report from last year on the matter.

It won’t be long before, like in the U.S., we will be unable to rattle off the names of all the Canadian casualties in Afghanistan. Their deaths will no longer be front page news. And most news organizations will probably not keep reporters in the country. It’s tragic but it’s inevitable.

Maybe the thing to do is, ask more questions here at home.”

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I will give the Canadian media credit that they’re covering the consequences of being in Afghanistan very closely, reporting every death, and in some cases just the bombings that are taking place where our troops are stationed.

Will Prime Minister Harper be accountable for them? I’ve never seen a prime minister that holds so many of his cards to his chest. Forbids his ministers to speak other than on 5 topics and has now convened cabinet meetings without notifying the press. He’s a control freak if you ask me. There have been no debates in parliament whether the troops should be there and that’s how he intends it to remain.